Snapchat Makes New Users Solve Puzzle To Keep Bots Away

Snapchat has been in the news a lot lately. That is because it was the target of a security breach which resulted in the usernames and phone numbers of millions of users being compromised. Snapchat took their time to acknowledge the hack, and even longer to apologize for it. Finally they have been shoring up their defenses.

So now Snapchat makes new users solve a puzzle before they get access. This simple step shouldn’t take more than a few seconds, but will keep bots away. It is a visual puzzle where users are shown nine images and they have to pick ones with Snapchat’s ghost mascot. When you find all images containing a ghost, users just press done and they will be granted access.

If the attempt is unsuccessful, they will be prompted to try and try again until they get it right. This step comes after registering for Snapchat by entering an e-mail address, birth date and setting up a password. It beats a captcha. And at least we see proof that the company is taking the right measures.